At his declaration, the vines of the gigantic lotus plants acted like living creatures.
The thorny vine moved in a waving motion and aggressively attacked Leon's direction. The purple thorns secreted a mysterious dark-colored liquid which Leon thought was a kind of poison.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The vines violently used their gigantic weight attempting to crush Leon on the ground.
Roman did not wait if Leon was wounded or unscathed by the attack of the monstrous plant. He was wearing an expression of impatience as he dived into the chaos and blended in the haze created by the lotuses.
His figure and presence were completely merged with the cover of the haze and dust, while Leon was dodging the vines.
Leon on the other hand did not feel any panic or anxiousness. These seemingly odd and fearsome creatures were nothing in his eyes. Even if the vines suddenly acted strangely the moment Roman blended in the haze and viciously ejected countless purple thorns towards his direction, he did not falter.
It was as if he could see the thorns' movements as well as the vines. Even if Roman was essentially hiding, he could still sense his presence.
In the eyes of an S class mage, Roman was just a little kid. The only reason why Leon was not fully exerting his power was to observe Roman's abilities and the usage of the curse.
Through this battle, he now discovered that curse magic also works like mana. The user could freely use his curse power just like how mana was used.
During his fight with Hasta, he saw that the opponent used the cursed power to display summoning abilities by manipulating the blades like it was his puppets.
His fight with Orel and the recounts of the knights who encountered him earlier displayed that he mainly uses the abilities of a caster, manipulating space.
Now with Roman, he saw that he could display the abilities of both a caster and a summoner.
With this, he could deduce that the usage of curse power mimics how open paths manipulate mana. Could it be that the goal of using the curse was to actually achieve the same kind of feat that an open path could attain?
However, the question was, why were the first two dark knights only able to display one of the three mana manipulation techniques while Roman could do two?
Is there some kind of aptitude also in the spectrum of curse users, just like how there was an innate aptitude for the mages?
Leon would want to immediately solve this mystery, however, time is of the essence. He had to conclude the fight soon and come back to check if the other dark knights had also started to move.
Coincidentally, Roman also felt the same. He was extremely agitated by the idea of battling a prolonged fight. It was because he did not want to spend so much cursed power on Leon after painstakingly absorbing a huge amount of essences earlier!
"I need to finish this and continue to absorb more! I don't know when would be the next time I would be allowed to have a feast like this!" He thought in his mind.
And so, while Leon was busy dodging the thorn and vine attacks of the lotuses, Roman started to move by navigating through the vines and positioning to carry out a sneak attack.
Holding his scythe in the attacking position, Roman eyed Leon's neck. Looking at how slender and smooth-looking it was, an odd sense of excitement aroused his irritated mood.
"What would it look like for that neck to be divided in half? Ohhhh!!! How satisfying would it look if the blood would start to ooze from his neck???!" These thoughts caused excitement and anticipation in Roman's eyes.
The same feeling of excitement and desire ignited his heart, just as when he had made the various parts of the city explode earlier.
"Come let me see how your neck is painted in red!" He thought in his mind as he dashed forward and swiftly swung his purple scythe to claim Leon's neck.
Swoosh!! Boom!!
The first attempt was evaded by Leon as if coincidentally, but Roman had his vines interrupt his movements and the thorns limited the spaces where he could dodge.
Woosh!Boom! Swoosh! Clang! Leon and Roman engaged in playing tag on a thorny chaotic battlefield.
During the short exchange, Leon observed if Roman still had something on his sleeves aside from using the vines and thorns to aid him in battle. But it seems like this was the limit for his time to play around.
With a sigh, he finally took out his sword and swung it casually.
Wooooooooooooooo…
The sound of his blade slicing through the air was like the whistling of the breeze - strong and haunting.
In just one strike, the hazy atmosphere was divided in half. The upper and lower part was still with the hazy mist and half of the gigantic lotuses, while there was a clear void in between which showed the original part of the field.
"Gaaaaah!!!" The next thing Leon heard was the blood-curdling scream from Roman! "AAAAah!!! D*mn you!!!"
Leon did not mind the cursing coming from the enemy, he waved his hands and summoned the wind to finally clear out the haze from the battlefield.
There revealed a bloodied Roman rolling on the ground with a frantic face. He was desperately clutching his right arm to which his hands were no longer attached.
Roman's hand was lying a distance away from him, lousily holding the purple scythe he was using earlier.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!!" Roman shouted as he mustered his power to awaken the lotuses again and attack Leon while he tried to heal his hands with the curse power he was initially conserving.
Once again the lotuses grew their previously cut vines and started to assault Leon again. However, Leon had enough of the battle as he thought that he had observed enough of Roman.
Leon looked at the lotuses coldly. His murderous aura was fully released immediately slowing the movement of the lotuses. However, in reality, it was actually Roman who was affected by the bloodlust aura released by Leon.
Just like Orel, he had fallen into Leon's terrifying mental illusion technique, Battlefield of Despair. This affected his control of the seemingly living lotuses.
While Roman was overwhelmed by the sight he was seeing inside the Battlefield of Despair, Leon used fire magic to burn the lotuses into nothing but dust. The flaming red fire crept to every vine of the three monstrous lotuses, melting its thorns and even burrowing to the ground to destroy its roots.
The crackling sound of the flames and Roman's inaudible murmurs were the only ones that Leon could hear on the battlefield. He looked at Roman who was still bleeding but was helplessly captured by his enchantment.
Fortunately, his abilities as an S-class mage had so far been effective towards the dark knights. However, just like what he did with Orel, he could only rely on enchanting these knights in an effort to stop the gruesome aftermath.
What he feared the most was the possibility of encountering the spirit fragment of the angel which he knew that he had no ability to apprehend at the moment.
Probably in the Empire, it was only Eli who could do it.
As such, the only thing he could do was to temporarily put the captives under this tortuous mental enchantment until they were brought to the Temple to be placed in the specialized dungeons made for cursed users like him.
Now that Roman was completely apprehended, they already have three dark knights in captivity and one already dead. Only three remained out along with the Empress and the Duke.
With how things have escalated, it seems like they could no longer wait for the troops from the east and the west to come back before they start arresting the Vesala siblings.
But by that time, he hoped that Eli would be ready.
Her role would be needed the most as they confront the two sources of sinister practices in the Empire.
–
Far on the northern end of the Seirende Empire, Eli was standing at the center of the cultivating field in the Silver Dew Forest.
The roughly two to three weeks that she trained using both her spiritual and magical powers have significantly changed the aura she exudes.
If before she was a scholarly and intimidating countenance of a businesswoman in the modern world, now she exudes a feeling of an otherworldly deity that decided to descend to the earth and bless humanity.
She was still with the unique features of black silky hair and midnight dark eyes. Her smile is still gentle and soothing; however, people would probably feel a deep sense of reverence and respect upon looking at her face.
Eli's eyes swept through the garden of herbal ingredients with a faint smile of satisfaction. A sweet sensation of victory flowed out of her heart and into her gentle face, "The yield this time was two times more bountiful than the previous ones!"
Then she waved her hands and called out, "My little twinkles… That's it for today! You all have worked hard!"
In an instant, countless little specks of light swarmed around her. The specks of light were like the glowing fireflies but under the fiery light of dusk.
However upon closer look, one would realize that what happily danced around Eli were not fireflies but the ever diligent and adorable forest sprites!
